The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch late on Friday night said that it arrested two Chinese nationals after they sailed into Taiwan illegally on a rubber boat that morning, arriving at Guanyin Beach (觀音海水浴場) in Taoyuan.
After coast guard officers arrested the two, their rubber boat was seized, and they were transferred to prosecutors for investigation, the branch said in a statement.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said that the two were a father and son.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
Prosecutors have requested detention of the father, a 41-year-old surnamed Song (宋), on suspicion of illegally entering Taiwan.
The Taoyuan District Court said that while it was questioning Song yesterday, his 17-year-old son was transferred to the National Immigration Agency’s Special Operations Brigade in Taoyuan after it was determined that detention was unnecessary, given his status as a minor and the likelihood that he was simply following his father’s lead.
Song said that he fled to Taiwan for “freedom,” because he was persecuted in China, sources said.
However, his stated motives are yet to be verified.
The pair sailed to Taiwan on a rubber boat only 3.3m in length, which was difficult to detect with radar, the CGA branch said.
Considering that China has been continuously testing Taiwan’s responses, even smuggling small objects to Taiwan during their military exercises, the coast guard did not rule out that Song’s action was a “gray zone intrusion,” it said.
Since January, there have been five smuggling cases involving 38 people, the CGA said.
It said it is seeking funds to install coastal monitoring systems such as thermal imaging cameras, and expand patrol ship capacities and purchase more equipment that enhances stereoscopic monitoring abilities to improve its defense resilience and ensure the security of the nation.
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